British Steel starts carbon capture trial

British Steel is trialling new carbon capture technology at its plant in Scunthorpe in a bid to further reduce emissions, Kallanish learns.

The company notes that while electrification of the steelmaking process will reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by more than 75%, it is exploring routes for additional reductions. This includes the development of technologies for capturing CO2 generated by other parts of its manufacturing operations.

As part of this, a mobile carbon capture pilot plant has been installed at its Central Power Station in Scunthorpe. The plant has been developed by the University of Sheffield and will be used to extract carbon from the power station’s boiler flue.

Andy Trowsdale, British Steel’s head of research and development, says: “This project is all about testing the capabilities of the technology. If it works for us, and others, it could be scaled-up and play an important role in carbon capture, utilisation and storage.”

“The trial, which has been approved by the Environment Agency, will demonstrate the technology’s potential,” he adds.

The project by University of Sheffield aims to enable the use of waste gases from manufacturing industries to generate an alternative source of carbon for consumer products.

The technology being used in the carbon capture system does not use environmentally hazardous chemicals and is much cheaper and smaller than other carbon capture technologies. The CO2 captured at British Steel will be bottled in gas cylinders, transported to the University of Sheffield and converted into synthetic transport fuels.

Carrie Bone UK

kallanish.com